Digital Sculptor, Writer, Husband and Father, Union Millwright, Former Marine, All In No Particular Order

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

New Mercenary Mech For Critical Mass Games, Part 4

At the suggestion of my lifelong friend Slade, who informed me of his desire to use the chopsaw in a vertically-ascending attack against the armored groins of his enemies, I gave the chopsaw bit a rotary "wrist."

Now, the pilot can twist the orientation of the blade 180 (you, the model builder, would have to cut and reglue, if desired), and strike fear in the crotches of enemy mech pilots everywhere.

Excellent suggestion, Mr. Hart.

Here is the new chopsaw, on top, compared to the old bit, on the bottom.

In the previous blog update, I showed the customary Arc Fleet Double Gatling attached to the chopsaw.

The long/large barrels would have obstructed any chopping being done by the saw, though, so Craig and Dale commissioned smaller weapons that also tied into the drone weaponry I did earlier for the Zas.

These are I call "button" turrets. Small, dual-barreled weapon turrets with a round, armored dome. They don't interfere with the chopsaw's cutting area, and don't overpower the design's lines. Small, succinct, and deadly.

I also remedied something that had been gnawing at me for a while: The lumpy, over-extended jetpack. I used a neat command in Rhino, called MoveFace, and managed to rearrange things without skewing them all to hell and back.

With some minor patching and reworking, the pack looks sleeker, slimmer, and more appropriate. Plus, it doesn't make it look like it would make the mech tip over backwards.

And then, finally, the last major design hurdle: How to incorporate weapons into the torso, without making the new design look like a Warhammer/Excalibur ripoff.

Craig and Dale wanted versions of the drone weapons to be used as auxiliary weapons in hardpoints incorporated into the main hull. The problem was, the hull needed some serious modification to create nested pockets and sockets that could be used in such a manner.

A chest plate was fabricated to look like an imbedded missile launcher, with hinged cover plates.

The drone weapons were rescaled and simplified, so they would look like built-in weapons.

It took some doing, but I made some casting-friendly (I hope) hardpoints in the torso that could be used, or not used, and still look good either way.